Black Bear Diner

We are from Sacramento and visit Black Bear diners whenever traveling, and frequent our neighborhood restaurant in Elk Grove. We are traveling on our way to Oregon and made a stop for dinner at the Redding restaurant. We have always experienced great food and service… until tonight. We arrived at the restaurant at 5:50pm, had our drink order taken, received them in about 5 minutes. Out waitress, Allison, promised to be right back to take our order. After waiting about 10 minutes, and numerous promises that she would «be right there», she finally took our order. I ordered the prime rib special and asked for it to be «as well done as prime rib is allowed to be». My husband ordered the chicken and biscuits. At 6:40 our meal was served. My prime rib was black and I was actually unable to cut it with the steak knife provided. My husband’s chicken was so dry he couldn’t eat it without swallowing ice tea at the same time. I have a feeling our meal may have set a while waiting to be served to us. Customers that arrived after us and ordered later than we did had been served and complete their meals before ours was served. I asked another server if I might talk with the manager, but was surprised to find the manager was Allison! She was busy flitting around, taking orders but interrupting customers so she could answer a ringing phone, mentioning to customers at one table that they were ordering the same thing as those people over there (while pointing out the other couple).
I don’t remember ever complaining about a meal, but when she asked, I told her. She offered me something else to eat, but I declined because we needed to continue on the road. She offered (and did) remove the prime rib dinner from the bill, but we told her we really weren’t interested in not paying for our dinner.
When we entered the restaurant I noticed a notice of change of ownership sign in the window. I sure hope the new owner (s) has better luck with this restaurant. I would hate to think of a first-​time customer basing their experience on this Black Bear diner alone.

We have been coming here since they first opened. The breakfast i think are very yummy and very filling. Love the corn waffles and eggs and potatoes. And if you are lucky enough to get Kimberly to serve that makes is all the better. She is awesome and she will aim to please her customers. Sometimes there is a wait time.

The food was amazing. Service was excellent. I had the ribeye steak with green beans. So so good and cooked to perfection.

Really great diner food and ambience! My boyfriend and I had been wanting to try this place for a while and luckily we got to stop in for breakfast one day. I loved the «newspaper» menus and the staff was very friendly. We were able to be sat fairly quickly since we were ok with sitting the bar area.
Everything on the menu sounded delicious! I went with the Fiesta Scramble and received a whopping portion of goodness! I requested the fruit and biscuit on the side and oh my! That giant homemade biscuit was the best I’ve had since Lambert’s in Sikeston, MO!
It seems Black Bear made an attempt to include the caloric intake for each meal on the menu but I find them very hard to believe, and most were very vague (ex: 600‑1200 calories). But if you’re willing to put the diet aside for one good old fashioned diner meal, this is the place to do it!

I have been to others in this chain and I must say it did not disappoint! This one was definitely a lunch hangout, so be prepared to spend more than your allotted lunch hour. :)

For diner food, this place rocks! The portions are large, the service is fast considering how big the place is, and the fresh squeezed orange juice surprises!
Ive been here 3 tomes and each time hasn’t dissappointed.
The eggs benedict is good. The sauce is nicely sour and savory.
The pancakes has me coming back for more.
The cinnamon french toast is like a dessert for breakfast so if you like sweet, this will satisfy.
A must try is the fresh squeezed orange juice. It literally tastes like you bit into an orange.
The coffee is what you expect from a diner.
We will keep coming back.

Had a terrible experience at this place. And this review is only for the service.
The food was ok but the wait time was horrible. My wife and friends decided to come and try it out on a Wednesday morning because we heard some good things about it.
We ended up waiting more then an hour for our food, we were this close to leaving because it took forever but one of the waitresses was kind enough to bring us some bread and apologized for the wait.
I then overheard one of the employees (because they were aloud about it) say that one of the cooks was being trained how to cook, way to go Black Bear Diner for ruining our first experience.

This is my 5^th time go to big bear. And we always had good experience until this time.
It was not a busy day for them. But when we walked in the resturant. we had wait there for 5 mins, and we found a table ourselves.
The waiter finally saw us a give us an menu. My boyfriend was not
he order a soup and we order 1 meal to share because the meals alwsys come with soup and corn bread.
And finally my boyfridnd’s soup came first. And i am still waiting mine. Finally another waiter serve my chicken parmesan, and I asked” Does the meal comes with soup and bread?” He said Yes., so finally the waiter who help us to order he bring it after i asked.
I am not sure if he want to SAVE the food or he did forgot it.
But when we paid the bill, the receipt shows chicken parmesancheese with salad. The reason he gave us is the cash machine is OLD.
He didnt even apologize to us.
Honestly, i dont even want to left the tip but i did because I dont want to be rude.
That was a awful feeling that how he treated us.
There are resturents out there, why should we choose this one?

My family & I drove down from Valencia to Torrance just to try this restaurant… neither of us were terribly impressed. Our server was very friendly but also slow. The time we came in was right in the middle of a slow time of day for diners, so the restaurant was not very busy at all, but our server was very slow to our table. The pancakes were really good in size & in taste, that is a huge plus. I tried the Chicken Pot Pie. The flavor in the gravy was very good, but I did not like the large strips of chicken on top of the Pot Pie. The biscuit in the pot pie was very good as well. The only major downfall for me was after I left the restaurant I had a lot of bad stomach pains, which made for a long hour drive home.

I love this place and its so unique to come to. Its one of a kind and Ive had no problems with the staff or the food. The food is amazing. It is definately worth the wait, before and after being seen. They have a little gift shop inside and honestly this place is as close as youre going to get to a cracker barrel in California.

Where to start? First this place has amazing food! I mean everything you want. Great breakfast, great club sandwiches, great fish, chicken fried steak, and pies! You can go wrong with any of the food.
The service was great! The male manager in training was good at his job.
Will be back!

This place has a minimum of 30minutes of wait time to get a seat but its totally worth it!
I’ve been here a few times and i enjoyed the environment, service, and the food.

It was great! The hospitality down to the large portions of food. We can’t wait to go back for lunch. The prices were very reasonable considering today’s market. The food looked like an advertisement and tasted as well as it looked. Great time

I went here this morning for my aunts birthday. The décor and overall feel of the restaurant is like an old fashioned diner. They serve alcohol! So all you alcoholics rejoice! Jk but really. The have beer, wine, mimosas, etc.
They even have a souvenir shop with some cute items. My aunt got the furry pink bear boots. We were seated immediately. I ordered coffee and so did one other person BUT the waitress took forever with the cream I had to ask another waitress for some. I ordered the Eggs Benedict omg it was amazing! It came with bacon, spinach, avocado, as well as hollandaise sauce. My aunt ordered the pineapple upside down pancakes, her friend ordered the egg scramble with apple sauce and her boyfriend ordered the country fried steak with pancakes. The food came fast! The coffee was hot and perfect.
The waitress was nice just a little forgetful. she also had use clear the table (I thought that was her job) but other then that service was fine.
Each meal comes with fruit plus your choice of hashbrowns or country potatoes. You can also have pancakes, waffles, or French toast. They have lighter menu choices if you’re not that hungry.
I will definitely come back! They have an extensive menu and I would love to try lunch & dinner.

Nice ambiance – I felt like I was at Disneyland’s Critter Country.
The food is well-​prepared, and comes in gigantic or ridiculously-​large portions.
The service tends to be slow, but it could just be my waiter. I noticed that the other tables were better tended.
Overall, it’s an unique diner experience.

Black Bear Diner is a chain restaurant started in Mount Shasta, California with locations throughout the West, from Washington to California, and as far east as Colorado.
As soon as you pull into the parking lot, you’ll spy the bears. There’s bears everywhere, and their food portions can feed a hungry bear. Plenty of food, but with big portions are hearty prices.
We came here on a Sunday morning and I knew to come early to beat the crowd. We arrived at 8:00 am and we were seated immediately. The menu are like newspapers, highlighting what the area has to offer. The breakfast menu is on the far right part of the newspaper, and include «lighter eats». I had the mini volcano breakfast: 2 fluffy sweet cream pancakes, topped with 1 egg any style, 1 bacon and 1 sausage for $ 8.99. While still a lot of food, it wasn’t much of a savings compared to the «original» volcano for a few dollars more, but a heck of a lot more food.
Stephen had the chorizo and eggs, while his mom had the 1 egg and bacon, which came with fries or fruit for $ 7.99. They had coffee while I had a large orange juice… for $ 5! Holy moley that wasn’t cheap, but it was fresh squeezed.
Service started off great, but as soon as our food came, our server was MIA. No automatic coffee refill, and we had to ask for the check. Hence, only 3 star for this visit.
Total for breakfast for 3 people came to $ 40 before tip. This isn’t a cheap place, but they do give you plenty of food.

Unilocal challenge 2016 ⁴¹⁄₁₁₆
Treated our buddy and his wifey to lunch here as a Thank you for replacing my brake pads on my car. Black Bear has an extensive menu consisting of diner favorites. All day breakfast, burgers, sammies, salads, ect. Little something for the big bears and cubs in your family.
Service here was perfect from the minute we sat down. Our young female server was attentive, talkative but most importantly made sure our coffee cups were never half full. She topped them off multiple times. Waters were refilled quickly. Extra condiments were always a call away. This is how service should be. The lovely goldilocks looking waitress extended her amazing service to her entire section.
Coffee was hot and strong the way I like it. Tasted sooooo good. They use a brand called Java House. A variety of flavored coffee creamers are waiting on the table to choose from.
My BBQ cheddar bacon burger was okay. I would of liked more BBQ sauce and more cheese. Both were on the skimpy size. The burger itself was ¹⁄₃ pounder, cousioned between a artesian style toasted bun smeared with mayo, topped with lettuce, pickles, onions, served next to a mountain of parmasean kettle chips. Fries or fruit are also available.
Country fried steak with bisquits and eggs has always been a hit with the Mister. Comes in 2 sizes… the Grizzly for the big hungry bear and the regular size. Extra gravy was necessary for the regular one. Both sizes will fill one up unless your stocking up for a long winters nap.
Asian chicken salad looked really good. I almost snuck a bite when nobody was looking. A sandwich and soup was also ordered which looked great.
I am a fan of The Black Bear chain. Food is about a 3.5…but Im rounding up for the strong coffee and wonderful service. Lunch for 4 with coffee was about $ 55.00
Thanks Golilocks for the perfect service. High paws to you!
#854

Black Bear Diner has established themselves as a quick growing chain of restaurants that deserve your business. The best way I can describe it is that they serve extremely large portions of quality food in an interesting and friendly atmosphere. Their prices are fair considering how much you get for your order, and the service has always been excellent every time we come here. Besides that, this restaurant has a real rustic, log cabin look with grizzly bear images and carved bears everywhere.
I will also remind you that they have the most scrumptious pancakes around, and I would definitely recommend sharing between two people. In case you are really hungry, you might even finish off a plate by yourself!
If are looking for a decent place to eat, check out Black Bear Diner!

−−5÷100 reviews for 2016–
Came here for a quick, early Christmas dinner with my boyfriend before I headed out to Las Vegas for the holidays. It was our first time! We love how the restaurant has a cabin (yet diner) feel to it. Almost feels like it should be a part of Disney’s California Adventures because of the woodsy feel. Statues of big black grizzly bears everywhere, it was really neat! They even have a little gift shop to the right when you first enter the restaurant.
The food was really good for the prices. American diner food that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day. I ordered the Soup of the Day: a bowl of chicken tortilla soup and my boyfriend got a Shasta Scramble with hash browns & a biscuit. They have big portions (just in case you were super hungry or wanted to share with someone). My tortilla soup was a bit too salty for my liking… The Shasta Scramble was yummy though. I definitely want to come back and try more items on the menu. See ya again soon!

Food here and service is always terrific. So no complaints there, but my complaint is about the patrons and Ok this is not so much about the Diner, but management should definately listen:
People groom yourself BEFORE you go to a restaurant. The Lady in the Corner Booth of the main dining room today about 9÷30−10 am was doing the hair brushing with her hands then tying it up in a knot on the top of her head at her table. People do you not understand that when you brush or comb your hair it goes everywhere? Yes! It falls out into other people food!
Why don’t restaurant managers or servers say something? Second time in a week that I have been in a restaurant and some young girl or woman starts flipping hair around grooming themselves while others eat. Its just disgusting.